The new Microsoft Office
2007 System is more than
just a makeover or a point upgrade of Microsoft Office
2003; it's a complete redesign.
Users will notice changes to the
interface immediately, but don't
worry: All the old tools and
commands are still there—along
with some spiffy new ones as
well; they're just arranged a little
differently. The new Microsoft
Office Open XML file format is
also generating many questions.
Here are some answers to
general questions about Office
2007 that I've received recently.
What are the new Office
2007 file formats?
Microsoft has switched from
using binary file formats (.doc, .xls, and .ppt) to using the Open
XML formats (.docx, .xlsx, and
.pptx). Each Office application
that uses the new file format—
Microsoft Office Word 2007,
Microsoft Office Excel 2007,
and Microsoft Office PowerPoint
2007—by default stores most
of the document content in
the Open XML formats. Other
document components, such
as embedded code, comments,
macros, charts, images, tracked
changes, and document metadata, are stored separately
within the file. Office 2007 zips
each component, then zips the
entire document (this process
is transparent to the user). The
resulting files (i.e., the document
file and associated component
files) in Open XML format are
significantly smaller than their
binary ancestors. For more
information about the Open
XML format, see the Microsoft
article “Introducing the Office
(2007) Open XML File Formats”
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms406049.aspx).
What else should I know
about the Open XML file
formats?
Microsoft Office Word
2003 and earlier versions have
always used two file types:
one for documents (.doc) and
another for templates (.dot).
Word 2007 will use four different file types: .docx, .dotx,
.docm, and .dotm (the x
stands for XML and the m for
macro). Word documents and
templates no longer contain
macros or code, a safety
mechanism that prevents an
attacker from adding hidden code in a document. So
when you save a Word 2007
document that doesn't have
associated components (e.g.,
macros or comments), you'll
see a .docx (for a document)
and .dotx (for a template) file.
However, if you used a macro
(or another component), you
must save the file as a macro-enabled document or template
(i.e., .docm or .dotm), otherwise the macro won't work. To do so, from the Save dialog
box, use the Save As Type
drop-down list to select the
document type.
Developers can programmatically access a document's
components to enable data
mining, document creation
from disparate sources, and
document manipulation. For
example, you could change a
corporate logo in a group of
documents by using an XML
editor. You can also generate
Office 2007 documents on a
server without having to install
the client applications—a big
plus for custom applications
(custom app developers will
love being able to generate
Office documents on-the-fly on
servers).
The formats for the new
Office 2007 documents will be
published and available under
the same royalty-free license as
the Microsoft Office 2003 XML
Reference Schemas. Microsoft
provides more information for
developers about the technologies used in Office 2007 at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/future/tools/default.aspx.
Can you use Office 2007
to open files from legacy
Office-application versions,
and vice versa?
Yes. To save files in the
older (binary) file formats, you
can use the Save As option in
Word 2007, Excel 2007, and
PowerPoint 2007. To open files
from Office 2003 (and earlier)
applications in Office 2007
applications, you can use the
Compatibility Mode option. If you want to open, edit, or
save Office 2007 files in Office
2003 (and earlier) applications,
you can do so by using the
Microsoft Office Compatibility
Pack for Word 2007, Excel
2007, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, which
you can download at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=
5754865. The Compatibility
Pack won't save pre–Office
2007 documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
with the features and formatting new to Office 2007, but it
does read, honor, and apply all
information rights management
(IRM) policies that were applied
to the document.
The converter currently
supports Office 2003 Service
Pack (SP1), Microsoft Office
XP SP3, and Office 2000 running on Windows Server 2003,
Windows XP SP1, or Windows
2000 SP4. Microsoft has
announced that it will provide a converter for Microsoft Office
2004 for Mac but hasn't specified an availability date.
Does Word 2007 provide
a facility that lets you print
documents to PDF format?
Yes. Microsoft provides a free add-in for Office 2007
that lets you print to a PDF or
XML Paper Specification (XPS)
file. XPS is an open-format
document standard introduced by Microsoft as a competitor to Adobe Systems'
PDF. You can learn more
about XPS and download the add-in at http://www.microsoft.com/xps.
What's new in the
Ribbon UI, other than just
appearance?
Commands are arranged in groups on tabs—that's the
Ribbon—and although the
arrangement is intuitive, it's
quite different than the traditional menu scheme that users
are familiar with. There's no
Tools menu, for example, and
all menu functions have been
redistributed to various tabs on
the Ribbon.
Some Ribbon tabs are
contextual, meaning that they
appear only when needed. The
Picture Tools tab, for example,
appears only when you select
a picture in the document.
Another example is there's no
View, Toolbars menu because
this functionality is integrated in
the Ribbon, as well as the new
view buttons and zoom slider
that display in the lower-right
corner of the window.
The right-click context menu
now contains a subset of formatting commands from the
Ribbon so that you can make
common changes without having to move the mouse up to
the Ribbon. Commands that
relate to the document as a
whole or to the application's
configuration are now found in
the menu revealed by the Office
button in the upper-left corner
of the application window. Look
there for many commands in
the File and Tools menus in earlier Office versions.
You customize the Ribbon
differently than you customized your toolbar in the past.
To customize the Ribbon, you customize the Quick Access
Toolbar that's located, by
default, next to the Office button and is available regardless
of which tab or section of the
Ribbon you're currently viewing. The Quick Access Toolbar
is an ideal location to place
commands that you use frequently. The drop-down arrow
at the end of the Quick Access
Toolbar lets you configure its
placement above or below the
Ribbon, customize the commands on the toolbar, and
minimize or restore the Ribbon.
Minimizing the Ribbon lets you
free up real estate in the application window.
One of the more eye-catching features of Office
2007 is Live Preview, which
dynamically applies changes
as you hover over commands, previewing what the
document, worksheet, or
presentation will look like if you
click the command. No more
“experimenting” with formatting—it happens in real time!
What are Quick Styles,
and how do I use them?
Quick Styles are collections
of formatting that you can
apply to a document, worksheet, or presentation. For
example, if you create a document by using the Modern
Quick Style set, then change
to the Distinctive Quick Style
set, all the styles in the document (such as Heading1 and
Normal) change to conform to
the new styles. If you're familiar with Web design, changing
a Quick Style is analogous to
changing to a different style
sheet when using Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS). Quick
Styles are available for Word
2007, Excel 2007, and
PowerPoint 2007, so that you
can create a consistent look
for documents, regardless of
the originating application.
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